SX-70 Polaroid - Porträtt av konstnären i transexuell förvandling #3

by Esse-Li Esselius

Artist Esse-Li Esselius (Sverige, född 1948)

Alternate Title

SX-70 Polaroid - Portrait of the Artist in Transsexual Transformation #3

Date1979/2021

MediumDirect print, UV ink, on plexi

DimensionsYttermått: 85 × 71 × 0,8 cm

ClassificationPhotography

Credit LinePurchase 2021 (Swedish Acquisitions 2021)

Countries

Sweden

Object NumberMOM/2021/350

CollectionsRecent Acquisitions, Svenska förvärv 2021

The artwork is not on display

About the artworkWhen Esse-Li Esselius began experimenting with a Polaroid SX-70 camera in the late 1970s, two transformation processes were combined. After exploring gender and cross-dressing for several years, Esselius also started documenting her transformation in a series of self-portraits, manipulating the chemical development phase. In the photos, we meet a gaze with heavy makeup and a young body emerging from the dark. Organic patterns and crackles spread across the pictorial surface like organisms with a life of their own. The Polaroids have been enlarged and printed with modern technology on the reverse side of acrylic glass sheets. Esselius is previously represented in the Moderna Museet collection, but these are the first of her works acquired under the name Esse-Li. Esse means to be in Latin.
Signatures, inscriptions and marks Signerad på baksidan av verket, Påskrift på baksidan av konstverk: " "SX-70 - POLAROID - PORTRÄTT AV KONSTNÄREN / I TRANSSEXUELL FÖRVANDLING" #2 / FOTO OCH BILDBEARBETNING / 1979 / ESSELI ESSELIUS / STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN / DIGITAL FÖRSTORING OCH DIREKTUTSKRIFT PÅ 8 mm PLEXIGLAS I STORLEK 71 x 85 cm / I ETT (1/1) EXEMPLAR UTFÖRT 2021." Selected exhibition history Nyförvärvsutställningen (den 5 februari 2022 - den 14 augusti 2022) Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Works by the artist